Medals of Jane McAdam Freud
Until September 30th
Jane McAdam Freud is the daughter of Lucian Michael Freud (1922–2011) and great-granddaughter of the famous Sigmund Freud. She is a talented and protean artist, sculptor and medalist of international fame. Recognition for her work began early with her first solo show at age 18. J. McAdam Freud exhibits internationally in museums, galleries and institutions and has produced thirty solo shows since 1996. Amongst many other collections, Jane’s work has been acquired for the Public Collections of the British Museum, Berlin State Museum, National Gallery of Greece, National Gallery Archives London and is on permanent display at the Victoria and Albert Museum (Gilbert Bayes Sculpture Gallery).
Jane McAdam Freud’s exhibition “Dreaming and Doing” is held in the State Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts from July 16 till September 30 2013, in partnership with the gallery, Gazelli Art House and will present 21 of the sculptors medals. The exhibition has an underlying philosophical context; all the medals are united by ideas of the popular Russian-American novelist Медаль and philosopher Ayn Rand (1905–1982). She believed that the role of art in human life is to transform man’s widest metaphysical ideas, (the fundamental nature of being) by selective reproduction of reality, into a physical form – a work of art – that one can comprehend and to which he/she can respond emotionally. “My philosophy, in essence, is the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute” (Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged).
The medals of J. McAdam Freud are informed by sculptural concerns. They examine “the medal” as form and concept: with forms reconfigured, re-viewed and re-worked. Conceptually loaded, their message is accessed through the figuration of linguistic and semiotic devices. Signs, analogy, metaphor and symbolism lead the viewer to his/her interpretation. The reading of the signifiers leads one to comprehend the layers of meaning implicit in the interrogation of these works.
